Patent Lawsuits Limited by Supreme Court in Two
Rulings
By Greg Stohr and Susan Decker - Jun 2, 2014The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against patent holders in two cases, rejecting a legal theory used to
sue technology companies and requiring patents to be written with more specific language.The rulings come in a Supreme Court term heavy with patent cases as the justices look for ways to
curb what companies such as Google Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. say is rampant abuse by some
patent owners.Some technology companies and retailers say they are too frequently the target of lawsuits
demanding payment by patent owners whose sole mission is to extract royalty revenue.Though today’s cases don’t involve such companies, the rulings “can be used as tools” against
them, said Brad Wright, a patent lawyer with Banner & Witcoff in Washington who wasn’t involved
in the cases.One decision, involving exercise equipment maker Nautilus Inc., (NLS) “could be used to strike
down vaguely worded patents, a problem that many technology companies complain about,”
Wright said. “It is this vagueness that sometimes gives rise to gray areas in the law, allowing
questionable claims to go forward. This might allow courts to rein those in more.”The stakes are high for the companies and the broader economy. Industries with revenue tied the
most to patent protection -- including drugmakers, technology companies and certain
manufacturers -- generated $763 billion, or 5.3 percent, of the 2010 U.S. gross domestic product,
according to a Commerce Department report in 2012.Business Methods
During the past eight years, the Supreme Court has limited patent owners’ ability to block non-
competitors from using their inventions, made it easier to invalidate patents, and made it harder to
get patents on business methods, medical diagnostics and isolated DNA.Patent Lawsuits Limited by Supreme Court in Two Rulings - Bloomberg Page 1 of 2
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/201 4 -0 6 -02/patent-lawsuits-limited-by-supreme-cou... 6 / 3 / 2014